Saturday, 25 July 2015

Foreign criminals are laundering
billions of pounds through the purchase of expensive properties, which
is pushing up house prices in the UK, the National Crime Agency has
said.

Its economic crime command director, Donald Toon, told the Times that London prices had been "skewed" as a result.
He said prices were being artificially driven up by criminals "who want to sequester their assets here in the UK".
Mr Toon urged estate agents to report any suspicious activity.
The
newspaper reported that Mr Toon said he was "alarmed" by the number of
homes registered to complex offshore corporations - some of which will
have been bought with laundered money.
The Treasury has earned
£150m in the past three months from a tax on properties purchased by
companies, trusts and investment funds, rather than individuals -
supporting Mr Toon's claim, the Times said.
When the tax was first
in operation in 2013/14, it raised £100m from 3,990 houses, with 80% of
the revenue coming from two London boroughs - the City of Westminster
and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, it said

Mr Toon said: "I believe the London property market has been skewed by laundered money."
He
added: "Prices of high-end property are being artificially driven up by
the desire of overseas criminals to sequester their assets here in the
UK.
"What they are doing is distorting the market.
"If
[estate agents] have a suspicion that there may be money laundering
involved, then they absolutely should be submitting a suspicious
activity report.
"You are at risk of committing a criminal offence if you do not do that."
Hundreds
of billions of pounds are laundered in the City every year, according
to the NCA, and it said investigations were intensifying. source: BBC